Teachers with an advanced degree have developed a higher degree of content expertise than their certification requires. An advanced degree is any degree above a bachelor's degree, including master's, advanced, or doctoral degrees. This section is based on March 2011 licensure data.
The percentages in this table only include teacher advanced degrees that have been entered into state records. The state collects information about education-related advanced degrees, but teachers with advanced degrees outside the field of education are not included here. State records only contain information about teacher non-education advanced degrees when an individual teacher, school, or school district notifies the NC Department of Public Instruction that the teacher holds the non-education advanced degree.
The district Report Card allows you to compare the percentage of teachers with advanced degrees in this district with averages at the state level. Use the state averages as reference points in reading district level data.
You might also look to see if there is a difference between the percentages of teachers with advanced degrees at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. The separation of teacher data by school levels allows you to see differences in this data that wouldn't be apparent in an overall average. For example, the district's data may show that middle school teachers are less likely to have advanced degrees than elementary or high school teachers. With that specific information, the school district might change the type of professional development opportunities it offers to middle school teachers. Lastly, please remember that the state averages only provide an indication of how favorable these data might be. It would be a mistake to judge a district or a group of teachers as "better" or "worse" based only on slight differences in these data. A lack of an advanced degree does not mean a teacher is unqualified.
District and state averages are calculated based on schools with similar grade ranges. This table uses six grade level categories in order to provide you with the most accurate data for comparisons. Across the state, districts vary the way they split grade levels across schools. Schools might have standard grade level groupings (K-5, 6-8, 9-12), or they may have less common ones, like: K-12, K-8, 7-12, 4-5, 6-11, and 10-12. Since schools are different depending on the age of the children they serve, the categories in this table group schools with other schools "most like theirs." For additional information about how school grade levels are categorized see the Data Sources & Information Guide.
For more technical information about the data in this table,see the Data Sources & Information Guide.